My son wants to move to Berlin, Germany, because he will go to university there.
He has been looking for appartments online for quite a while and ran into an ad about an interesting appartment for a fair price to be rented from a Torsten Schubert living in Italy.
That guy has a German name but wants to receive his mails in English because of his poor German. He plans to do the rental arrangements via HomeAway.
Everything sounded suspiciously good. Fortunately, we checked here. We found out, that the guy lives in Spain as well and is renting away other appartments both in Berlin and other cities for the exact same conditions
In our case, he used the e-mail "
[email protected]"
Here is the first contact mail in German:
"Hallo,
Mein Name ist Torsten, 42 Jahre alt und ich habe eine E-Mail mit Interesse an der Vermietung meiner Wohnung erhalten.
Im Moment bin ich mit meiner Familie in Italien und ich werde nicht dort bleiben, deshalb habe ich es länger gemietet. Wir haben eine Lösung für diese Unannehmlichkeiten, damit Sie so schnell wie möglich einziehen können.
Die Wohnung ruhig, hat alle Einrichtungen und Nebenkosten: TV, Parkplatz, Wäscherei, Klimaanlage, Highspeed-Internet, Haustiere sind erlaubt.
Address: Lehrter Str. 23, 10557, Berlin.
Die monatliche Miete beträgt 500 € , wichtig ist auch, dass die Nebenkosten (Wasser, Strom, Internet, digitales Fernsehen) im Preis enthalten sind.
Die Wohnung ist in sehr gutem Zustand, wie Sie in Bildern gesehen haben.
Die Wohnung ist möbliert, renoviert und komplett ausgestattet (Waschmaschine, Kühlschrank, Mikrowelle, Geschirrspüler, Digital-TV, WLAN).
Sie können meine Möbel verwenden, oder Sie können auch Ihre eigenen verwenden, wenn Sie bevorzugen. Wenn Sie sich entscheiden, Ihre zu benutzen, haben Sie Zugang zu einem sehr großen und gut belüfteten Lagerhaus, in das Sie meine Möbel stellen können.
Wenn Sie sich schon interessieren, sind wir bei uns zu mir.
Freue mich von Dir zu hören.
Es ist mir leid, aber mein Deutsch ist nicht sehr gut. Englisch ist besser.
Danke! "
Next Mail ist in English:
"Hi there ,
The monthly rent is € 500.00 and is unlimited.
The apartment is in good condition, clean and ready for use. The kitchen is fully equipped.
In the apartment you will find a fridge, freezer, washing machine, dryer, iron, oven, toaster, coffee machine, internet access and WiFi access.
We have been living there since January 2017 and we lived there until the last month, then my employment contract ended and we returned to Italy.
The apartment has public transportation nearby and not far from shopping center, sports club and other amenities. Pets are allowed, but I ask you to keep everything clean.
The apartment has a parking space. I have invested a lot in this apartment and would be very grateful if we would treat you as your property. I am interested in a long-term tenant who takes care of the property so as not to make any money from rental income.
Due to my unexpected return to Italy , it was only a short time to find a reliable tenant. I have the keys. As soon as I have found a serious tenant, I will come back to Germany to show him and sign the lease.
Looking forward to hear from you.
Thanks for your time! "
Following our answer, he wrote back:
"Hi again,
The property is not listed on HomeAway website, I can use their services without listing on their website.
The utilities costs are included .You can rent the apartment for min. 3 months and max.8 years but we can renew the contract.
I'm the owner of the apartment.
The apartment is fully furnished and renovated, as you can see from the photos.
You can use my furniture, or you can also use your own if you prefer. If you decide to use yours, you will have access to a large and well-ventilated cellar, where you can store my furniture.
Also, in case you have another apartment right now, and you cannot move out immediately, we can make the agreement as explained just now, and consider it only an inspection and reservation. You will move in when you are ready and pay the first rent then.
You must pay first and then if you are not satisfied with the apartment you will get your money back . They will hold the money until you have confirmed that everything is in order, you will send the money to their agent, not to me, and only after you confirm they will give me the money .
The reason we have to use this method is because we must be both protected as you can't send me the money directly with no protection and I must have a warranty to be able to send you the keys. I hope you understand I can't just send the keys to anyone who asks. They will hold the money and send you the keys as well. You must deposit the money to the agency's bank account. After you deposit the money, you will receive the keys and go to see the apartment. After that if everything looks good, you have to confirm if want to keep it or not. If you keep the apartment, the agency will pay me, if you don't want the apartment, they will give you the money back .
Also, very importantly, the utilities (cold/hot water, electricity, wireless broadband Internet, digital TV, 1 parking spot, dishwasher, refuse disposal, microwave, refrigerator, washing machine, air conditioning, etc.) are all included in the price. I have no objection if you want to keep pets.
To start the transaction with HomeAway, you need to send me the following details:
Full name:
Address:
City:
Post Code:
Country:
Mobile phone number:
ID Card copy or Passport copy
Copy of your gas or electricity bill
Date of Birth:
Date you want to move into the apartment:
Length of rental period required:"
It took another mail, until we finally researched the web for that guy
:
"Hello again,
The apartment is available for long-term rent, so you can stay there for as long as you want.
As I mentioned in my first email, Italy is my current place of residence. I am ready to return to Germany as soon as possible to clarify the rental agreement. I've come back once before for a supposed tenant who has found that he doesn't have enough money. So I have to be sure before I understand my proposal that I have commissioned with HomeAway, which offers a simple control process for owners and new tenants. You will check me as the owner of the apartment and you as the potential tenant.
Here is a brief description of the process:
- As the owner, I have to submit information about the rental agreement and copies of some documents to HomeAway.
- After HomeAway accepts the transaction and has completed the verification of the documents, you as the potential tenant will need to contact you and check that you have enough money to rent the apartment.
- After I have received the confirmation, I will come back to Germany to show and sign the rental agreement.
If you agree to the process, please provide the following information:
- full name of the future tenant;
- Current address (street, city, country, zip code);
- telephone number;
- I also need a copy of your identity card or passport to complete the rental agreement
The price you have to pay for 1 month of rent is € 500.00 and I would also like to pay € 500.00 deposit (the € 500.00 deposit you get back when you leave the apartment) without paying any additional taxes , I would like to transfer the rent to my bank account every month, so I hope that it is no problem for you to transfer the money.
If I have the details, HomeAway will get in touch with you, but you have to be sure before I come from Italy so that your interest can be fully aroused.
Looking forward to hear from you.
Thanks for your time! "
Thanks to this website, we found out on time that things that seem to be too good to be true are most likely too good to be true. Boy, are we mad about that guy
